No Holds Barred (Avari)

by **Astrolabe** on November 16th, 2011, 4:17 am

Sidetracking only long enough to pick up his leather satchel that contained dry (hopefully, despite the steady rain) clothes for after the match, Astro walked quickly, somewhat oblivious to his much shorter companion’s equally shorter stride. The girl made no protest, though, and Astro was more than anxious to get to a point and place where this private conversation could be had. The public bathhouse utilized by many of the sailors was only a very short distance away, and as they marched there he determined to simply hold all questions until they found a more suitable place for her to divulge these “ways.” He wasn’t an idiot, despite being inept at the magical arts, and his brain was telling him that there was some scheme here – some ploy – and he wasn’t sure he was going to like hearing about it. High moral character be damned – it was more than dangerous to go about trying to pull the wool over the eyes of some of the men who ran these matches – and expected to make small fortunes off the wagering. Matches were fixed all the time – he knew that. But the ones who were running the show were the ones who were supposed to be doing the fixing, not petite little women like the one he had a hold of.

It was odd how, in his musings, he had almost forgotten that he was dragging her along with him, until she demurred once inside the entrance to the bath house. He came to a full stop, looking down at her as if she was some strange alien creature – or maybe a simple minded child. He frowned at her words, nodded because what else was there to say, then disappeared through the second set of doors. Did it occur to him that, if she indeed had a secret – one that he wanted to know – she might well bolt? No, of course not. He wasn’t an idiot – but neither was he the most intelligent of guys either.

It didn’t take him long. Within the space of fifteen minutes, he was back standing before her, in fairly dry clothes, clean and with only a few bruises beginning to show about his face and neck. Tossing a cloak about his shoulders and pulling up the large hood, this time he put his hand out for her, raising her to her feet. His eyes took in her features, a bit more clearly without rain sluicing into them. “Do I at least get to know the name of my partner?” he asked, his tone sounding wary, but slightly amused.

by **Avari** on November 16th, 2011, 7:58 pm

"Partner? I like the sound of that," Avari remarked. Bending to collect her scattered dice and dropping them back into their tiny pouch at her waist, she added laughingly, "Though some people might think you were being awfully forward saying that, considering we've only just met.

"My name is Ari, by the way," she told the young man, as they left the bathhouse together. It had been K'Sondra's nickname for her before she left Mura, and somehow it always felt right to introduce herself to Zeltivans with the name that had been given to her in affection and mischief, considering how she felt about Zeltiva itself and what she did there to survive. Besides, it seemed only prudent not to give her full name to everyone she met, especially when the shortened, informal version of that name made such an unmemorable, everyday moniker.

Outside, the rain had cleared and a bare hint of brightness peeked out from behind the low-hanging, iron-grey clouds covering the sky. She fell into step beside the tall young man, trying mightily to adapt her shorter strides to his effortless, long-legged gait. Around them, the docks swarmed with activity as usual, curtailing further conversation for the moment. A faint curl of delicious aromas reached her nose from the Fish Market near the docks, causing her belly to rumble plaintively again. Avari actually had to restrain herself from openly salivating in anticipation.

Her high spirits restored by the beckoning odor of grilling fish, she tugged eagerly at the young man's arm and pointed toward the Market, rather like a child at a toy store. She thought she saw the shadow of a tolerant, amused smile flicker across the man's face as he agreeably followed her excited, impatient lead toward the massive open-air marketplace. He kept up with her easily as she wound deftly through the rows of stalls and vendors, slipping through the milling crowd of market-goers and fishermen, until they arrived together at the center stall with its single wood-burning grill. Skewers loaded with fish and seafood lay across the grill, filling the tiny stall with swirls of dark, fragrant smoke.

Blinking her eyes against the smoke and raising her voice above the clamor of voices buying and selling, Avari called to the gnarled old sailor operating the stall, "Hello? Can I have two skewers of horned sand-fish, please? And two more...no, three...wait, make that four for my friend here," she added, turning her head and looking over her new "partner," who looked as though he could devour twice as much food as she could without any trouble.

In a short amount of time, the gnarled sailor efficiently filled her order and presented a paper cone with six skewers of the seaweed-wrapped, salt-stuffed delicacies to the delighted Konti. From the fifty mizas she had just won, she counted out payment, gave it to the sailor at the stall, and gestured for the young wrestler to follow her. There was a small area near the Dockmaster's office building with benches lined up in front of the entrance, where she liked to sit, listen to the sounds of the city, and eat. It was much quieter there, and they could speak together in relative privacy and safety. She waved the skewers of fish invitingly, as a sort of precaution against the young man having second thoughts at the last moment and not joining her for dinner.

Once they had made their way to the benches in front of the Dockmaster's building, Avari carefully set the paper cone on the seat next to her. With earnest intentness, she separated the six skewers and handed four to the young wrestler. Then, without preamble, she lifted the end of a remaining skewer to her lips and began nibbling avidly, visibly savoring the hot, flaky horned sandfish fresh off the grill.

"Mmmmm, isn't it delic...?" she started to say. She stopped when she met the man's gaze, and her smile faded.

"Oh, yes. Of course," Avari faltered, lowering the skewer back into its paper cone. "I suppose now that we've acquired our dinner and are in a better place to speak, I do owe you some answers. I mean, I'm sure you must have a good idea of how I knew, uh, what I knew, but I...I..." She paused uncertainly and then took a deep breath. Now, here came her gamble.

"I suppose I should let you see for yourself," she finished.

Raising both hands to the collar of her tunic, she tugged it to the right as far as it would go, revealing the side of her neck and the top of her right shoulder. Slitted gills ran down her neck, clearly verifying her inhuman nature. Even more striking, just beneath the tip of her shoulder glimmered the upper petals of a seer's lily, steel-blue in color and shimmering even in the wan, overcast day. Were it not for that shimmer, it might have looked like part of a stylized tattoo on her skin, rather than the mark of Avalis, goddess of divination, that it truly was.

"Do you see?" she asked softly. "That's how I knew."

by **Astrolabe** on November 24th, 2011, 6:20 pm

“I’m not trying to be forward, just direct.” He replied, in a matter of fact tone, looking down into a pair of extremely innocent looking blue eyes, and making a note to self to watch this one very carefully. “Ari – that’s simple enough.” She had taken her hand from his in order to scoop up a set of dice, which he only thought she had used to pass the time while he scraped the mud off himself. But of her own accord she placed her delicate fingers back in his much larger ones.

“I’m Astrolabe. Dunno if you heard anyone tossing that about back there.” They had stepped back out into an afternoon that, while still grey and misty, was at least showing promise of drying out. It was about a fifty-fifty chance that the girl had heard his real name back at the wrestling ring. Generally, the gamblers and touts referred to him as the Hammer – just a cheesy moniker really, but one that tended to somewhat disguise the fact that he wasn’t your more typical low-life street fighter or veteran sailor. But many people that hung about the fight rings knew him personally, so in the yelling crowd it was certainly possible that she had heard it.

“But most of my friends call me Astro. So – if we’re partners – feel free.” He smirked. “Come on.” Tugging on her hand, he pulled her in the direction of the fish market. “I’m hungry – for food and an explanation.”

Soon enough, though, it was the girl urging him forward, once they reached the market. She knew where she was headed, apparently, for she went straight for the grill, and the aroma made Astro’s stomach tighten. With the fairly strict rationing of food in the city, which knew frequent shortages, it seemed he rarely got truly full. Astro was a pretty big guy and he could pack away the food. Thank Laviku that, if you had the coin, the bounty of the sea was usually available at this market to those who needed more than their rationed portions. He heard Ari’s belly voicing its own call to be fed, and he couldn’t help but smile. Even her sense of what would entail a fair portion as payment for his part in their victory was pleasantly accurate, though he was sure he could have actually gone for five, or maybe even six. Still, this was only really a late lunch. He actually had not intended to let her pay for all of it – he was more than willing to pay for his share. But to his dismay, he realized that he had gone off with her before collecting his prize money. He’d have to go back and see Saul as soon as they were done here. In the meanwhile, with a slight feeling of uneasiness, he was obligated to let Ari pay for all of the fish. Well, perhaps it would give him a good excuse to insist that she let him return the favor – soon.

Dinner in hand, Ari skipped over to the benches in front of the dockmaster’s office and Astro followed, somewhat like a stray pup hoping for a hand out. She needn’t wave the skewers about, he was hooked in more ways than one. Easing down onto the bench beside her, he threw his hood back, and accepted the proffered fish, though he made no move yet to eat. Actually, he had quite a few questions for the girl now tasting the smoked fish so daintily. His gaze, as he studied her, must have been more intense than he realized, for she began to stammer a bit, ready to now reveal her “ways” of knowing his opponent’s weakness. Unexpectedly, her fingers went to her collar and pulling down the top of her tunic, she displayed the blue lily.

Truthfully, the gesture, and the resultant exposure of the gills and the slight scaling of her skin, the flowered mark, only served to confirm what he had already half guessed. It was as if he could hear the various pieces clicking into place. Of course, there had to be some type of magic at work, unless she personally knew the sailor, and his history, which seemed wildly improbable. The mark of Avalis told him all he needed to know about how she had done it – how she had helped him win the match. But, call it magic or a gift or whatever you chose to label it, there was no question - such a use of her gift couldn’t really be called anything other than – cheating.

Looking at Ari, he wasn’t thinking at all about any moral implications about what she had done – or what he had done using the information she had supplied him. Fights were thrown all the time, either with or without a combatant’s knowledge, or consent. Yes, the matches were about prowess and pride and bragging rights and prize money. But Astro was no gullible babe in the woods. He knew what drove it all was the gambling, and the sometimes large amounts of money that rode on the outcome of a match. Personally, though he had been asked to cheat, to participate in one way or another in some swindle of the betting crowds, to date he had declined. And he wasn’t a big enough threat to anyone to really matter, so those who had asked were not too irate when he turned them down. Why had he turned down the offers, which would have garnered him more money? He could only put it down to pride. He absolutely sucked at everything else he did, except for maybe the projects he worked on with Remiken at the foundry. Wrestling was the one thing that he actually excelled at. He wasn’t the best, but he was good. When he won, for a while he felt good. When people congratulated him and praised his success, he could drown out all the other words of derision and derogation and despair (from his family). It might have been stupid, and maybe egocentric, but he looked forward to that encouragement, that applause. In some ways, he needed it very badly.

So the Konti’s revelation came as no great surprise, and did not shock Astro as an assault upon of his own moral superiority. No, all he could think about, looking at her petite frame and delicate air was how dangerous what she had done was. And she likely did not even realize what risk she might have put herself at. He had no way of knowing, right at that moment, who might have had a packet of coin riding on that match. But in retrospect, Dexter’s insistence that the sailor he had fought was a push-over was itself a bit alarming, now seen in the proper context. They had been set up – for a reason. But . . . Ari had screwed it all up. Correction – he had screwed up something, for somebody, and hopefully, no-one would ever connect this tiny young Konti with what had brought victory to the wrong wrestler.

With a mental kick to his own head, Astro grabbed for the neck of her tunic and yanked the cloth back over her exposed shoulder. Shoving the skewers of fish back at her, he leapt up from the bench, making a quick surveillance of the immediate area around them. But he knew – there was no way to know, who might be watching.

“Don’t speak of this – to anyone!” he practically snarled in her face, so afraid that someone who wasn’t happy with what had just happened back there might see them together, or that she would blithely let slip some remark that would put her own neck in some gambler’s noose. He was standing, towering above her, wanting to protect her but knowing the best way he could do that was to never be seen with her again.

“Whatever you do – don’t mention this. Not to anyone, alright?” With another quick look around, and a slightly desperate look on his face, he spun about and walked away as quickly as he could without it seeming too completely odd.

by **Avari** on November 29th, 2011, 9:40 pm

Avari's jaw dropped when the young wrestler named Astrolabe abruptly threw his skewers of fish at her, snarled a few angry, garbled words, and stalked off. A half-chewed morsel of sand-fish was visible inside her wide-open mouth, forming an undignified and unsightly counterpoint to the rising blaze of surprise and indignation in her eyes. Her brows rushed together into an aggrieved frown, and she snapped her jaw shut with an audible click, trapping the piece of fish before it could fall loose. She had no idea about any of desperate thoughts that raced through Astrolabe's head; all she knew was that he had started at the sight of her seer's-lily mark from Avalis as though he'd seen a ghost, hissed at her not to speak of "this" to anyone, and then rushed off without any explanation. Staring fixedly at his retreating back, she quickly chewed the morsel of fish, swallowed, and sprang to her feet, chasing after him with all the single-mindedness of the extremely confused and upset young girl she was.

In a dozen determined strides, she caught up to the man. Insistently, she pulled at his arm, urging him to turn around.

"What was that all about?" she demanded. "Why on earth did you get up and run off like that? Are you trying to call attention to us both by reacting in such a spectacular fashion?"

Even as the last few words tumbled out of her mouth, Avari sensed the contradiction in scolding the young man for being conspicuous when she was the one raising her voice. A faint, embarrassed flush warmed her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she made an effort to get control of herself and throttled down her temper. She glanced left and right to make sure no one was watching them too closely and was relieved to see that there were only a scant handful of people nearby, none of whom seemed particularly interested in the two of them. Leaning forward, she did her best to lower her voice and behave a little more calmly and reasonably.

"Look," the Konti continued, a little less urgently, "I'm sorry if I upset or startled you in any way. I just figured that, well, that you deserved to know, seeing as you actually took the time to listen to me and take my advice when you didn't have any reason to believe me. I was afraid you might not, considering how badly I conveyed my message. I couldn't even think of the word for 'joint'!" She gave a short, self-conscious laugh.

For a moment, the thought crossed her mind that perhaps he had been running off to report her to the authorities, now that it was clear that she possessed goddess-given sight and had used it to affect the outcome of the wrestling match. Avari froze, and her grip on Astrolabe's sleeve loosened. If that was why he had run off, then she had better start running too, but in the opposite direction. Then, with a surge of relief, Avari realized that if he had wanted to report her, he would have grabbed her and brought her along instead of pushing her away. Besides, the authorities might suspect Astrolabe of being equally guilty, considering he had profited off the match, and even think the two of them were in cahoots. Avari relaxed, exhaling a long breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding until now.

Still, she had never seen anyone respond so vehemently to the sight of Avalis' mark before. Had it truly frightened Astrolabe so much? Might this tall, strong young man actually believe her to be some sort of monster? Peering up at him, she studied his face closely. He didn't look afraid. At least, he didn't look afraid of her. His pupils were slightly dilated and there was a look of anxiety and tension in the flare of his nostrils and the set of his jaw, but it didn't seem to be in response to her.

"Now, I'm guessing you don't want to make a fuss about this and get us both in trouble, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't run off shouting again. If it's the morals of the situation that are bothering you, well, I...I guess I can't blame you." Well, she could, and quite strongly, but only in the privacy of her mind. "But I can tell you this much: that man you were fighting didn't care a thing about morality or ethics. The same way I found out about his shoulder, I saw how he likes to fight. He maims his opponents all the time and claims they're 'accidents' to get away with it. You wouldn't have been the last, either, not by a long shot." Avari stopped there, but gave Astrolabe a look and a raised eyebrow that said plainly, "If he doesn't care, why should you?"

"If you don't want my...help anymore, then that's fine." She shrugged and shook her head regretfully. "You seem like a nice fellow and a skilled wrestler, from what little I know about the whole business, and worthy of a little help now and then. Besides, it seemed like you had all the odds stacked against you. I may not know much at all about wrestling, but I can understand odds and betting when I see it, and it seemed like no one expected you to win that match. They all thought that dirty sailor would make an example of you and give them a good show. Instead, you made an example of him and toppled all their smug expectations.

"And wasn't it more fun that way?" She couldn't help smiling a little, her eyes twinkling at the memory of the surprise and apprehension that had run through much of the crowd from Astrolabe's victory in his match. "Wouldn't you like to play by your own rules, instead of following the ones that other people set out for you to follow?"

by **Astrolabe** on January 19th, 2012, 8:44 pm

Astrolabe, too, did not want to cause a scene in that public venue. So when the Konti pulled at his arm, instead of shoving her away and breaking into a run, as he might have liked to do, he simply came to a halt. His eyes went first to hers, as she spoke, and then nervously cast about, scanning the few individuals who were close by. His warning to keep her voice down died on his lips, as the girl herself seemed to realize that it might be far wiser to speak softly. As she did so, leaning closer, he too bent down, his eyes coming back to her face and locking there. She spoke at length, and he let her, trying to decide whether it was best to just go ahead and verbalize his fears – on her behalf. At least that way she might be more wary, in case anyone did somehow connect her to his winning today. When at last she seemed to have said her peace, he looked at her intently, then spoke as quietly as he could.

“It’s not a question of playing outside the rules, Ari. It’s a question of playing outside their rules – the ones that set these matches up – the ones who stand to make – or lose – small fortunes on the outcomes. Outcomes they generally like to know well in advance of placing their sizable bets. You felt good about winning today, right? Well, think about the men who didn’t win – but that thought they would. Think about how they feel – and think about how they’re going to be feeling about you if they know you’ve fucked with their little plans.” He paused a moment to let that sink in.

“I don’t really care about winning, or losing, or being honest. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. And if someone puts two and two together, and comes up with an interfering Konti, that very well could happen. So . . . “ He gave her a pointed, frank look. “I’m going to walk away now, and you’re not going to follow me, and that is going to be the end of it, alright?” His voice was soft and calm but it had a core of iron running through it. It said clearly that he didn’t intend to argue about this.

“Trust me, you don’t want to mess with those guys.” Astro’s eyes lifted again to look about. Seeing nothing that looked out of place, but knowing anyone could be keeping a tab on him without his knowing it, he looked at her one last time and gave her a small smile. “Nice knowing you, partner.” Once again, he walked away from the tiny woman, hoping to hell that she got it, and would not need to ask any more questions.

by **Avari** on January 20th, 2012, 9:04 pm

Avari stared after the stubborn young wrestler as he wove through the crowds and headed back to the docks, presumably to obtain his share of the winnings from the last bout. For a moment, she considered chasing after him again, but shook her head in resignation. She had no idea who the mysterious "they" that Astrolabe believed had rigged the wrestling matches was, but it was clear that he believed they were powerful and dangerous. His steely insistence on walking away from her offer of dinner and her proposal demonstrated better than any words that he feared them. At least now Avari understood a little why he had run off at the sight of her seer's-lily mark, if he feared that the shadowy "they" would do him harm for ruining their match-fixing scheme.

When Astrolabe had disappeared from view, the Konti glanced around herself once or twice, wondering if anyone was indeed watching her or following her about. She didn't see anyone paying the least bit of attention to her. Was Astrolabe just being paranoid? Were there really disgruntled gamblers lurking in the shadows, angry that they had lost what seemed to be a sure bet?

Still, he knew the world of wrestling far better than she did; for all she knew, everything he said was true, and that dirty-fighting sailor had had hundreds of mizas riding on him. Perhaps, she reflected, it was a bit presumptuous of her to watch her very first wrestling match ever and believe that she could pull the wool over the bettors' eyes so easily. It was certainly naïve of Avari to think she was the only person operating in Zeltiva, or even around the docks, with devious motives. She had been very lucky that the wrestler she'd chosen to "help" had turned out to be a decent, polite fellow who didn't report her to the authorities or the mysterious "them" the minute that she'd whispered his opponent's secrets into his ear. Of course, she had gazed into his chavi before approaching him, and chavi didn't lie.

With a sigh, Avari pensively nibbled on the last chunk of grilled fish on her skewer and turned around, heading away from the docks. She'd had enough of wrestling today, of violence and blood and betting on one sweaty, smelly fighter or another. It was easier betting on cards or dice, and probably safer too.

In the back of her mind, though, the Konti still wondered how much truth lay behind Astrolabe's feverish predictions of angry wrestlers and gamblers who set up the rules and fixed the matches, and who might guess that she or Astrolabe had overturned their carefully engineered plans. In her preoccupation, she nearly bumped into someone, she was thinking so hard. She wondered if "they" genuinely had meant for Astrolabe to lose spectacularly and how much money could really have been riding on his opponent's victory if he was such a massive favorite. Still walking and chewing, she wondered if anyone in the crowd could actually connect her to Astrolabe's victory in any way.

And idly, in the darkest and most wicked part of her mind, Avari wondered just what would happen to someone that "they" discovered playing outside "their" rules.

by **Paragon** on January 21st, 2012, 10:44 am

Astrolabe :

Avari :

Great thread guys, I really enjoyed this one! It's nice to see Avari having just a little worry about the trouble her cheating could get her into - if you have ANY questions or concerns about this grading, don't hesitate to PM me.